Fring is  a peer-to-peer Mobile VoIP based internet telephony network, which allows users to call their social network contacts for free using their handset’s internet connection.

Fring has opened its service to phones running  Java ME software and Linux handsets, allowing Nokia and Sony Ericsson phone owners to become part of fring network.

Fring has created a ‘minifring’ version for phones that don’t yet support voice over IP calling. With minifring, you can now use some of the most popular bits of fring to keep in touch with fringsters, Skype, GoogleTalk, MSN, AIM, Yahoo, ICQ, and Twitter buddies  for free anywhere you go.

Previously fring runs on Symbian 60 devices like Sony Ericsson UIQ Smartphones, Windows Mobile and iPhone handsets, butit is now supporting more than 1000 different handsets.

Debian has released bug fixes for lighttpd and gaim packages.

Gaim, a multi-protocol instant messaging client, was discovered to be vulnerable to several integer overflows in its MSN protocol handlers, allowing remote attackers to execute arbitrary code.

Lighttpd, a fast webserver with minimal memory footprint was discovered to have several local and remote vulnerabilities listed below:

1. lighttpd 1.4.18 and other versions before 1.5.0 do not properly calculate the size of a file descriptor array. This allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service by using large number of connections that will lead to a system crash.

2. connections.c in lighttpd before 1.4.16 might accept connections greater than the configured maximum. This allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service with a large number of connection attempts.

The updates fix the multiple Denial of Service (DOS)  issue in lighttpd and the execution of arbitrary code and buffer overflow problems in gaim.

Otto Moerbeek who works as an OpenBSD developer discovered and fixed a bug in OpenBSD that has been traced back to an AT&T version of Unix from 1975.

OpenBSD is a variant of the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), a widely used, open-source, Unix-like operating system. BSD’s variants include NetBSD, FreeBSD and OpenBSD which forms the basis of Apple’s Mac OS X Operating system. Moerbeek found the bug in yacc, a parser generator developed by Stephen C. Johnson at AT&T  that has been a standard part of Unix since the 1970s. He found the bug through the process of testing a new implementation of malloc, a general purpose memory allocator. A user informed him that compiling large C++ projects are sometimes failing on a Sparc64 hardware platform using the new malloc.

The new malloc was able to trigger the bug because its new features give it a better chance of catching buffer overflows, Moerbeek said. He noted that the bug is only triggered on Sparc64 systems.

“Funny thing is that I traced this back to Sixth Edition Unix, released in 1975,”  Moerbeek wrote  in a note describing the bug.

The latest bug, which affected the yacc parser generator, followed Marc Balmer’s discovery last May of a 25-year old flaw that exist in BSD variants and derivatives like Mac OS .

Hooorrrraaayyyy! The penguin has started calling! Why wait for Google Android when Freerunner is already here?

FreeRunner is Openmoko’s Linux-based smartphone designed to encourage third-party modification and customization. The handset is completely open in both hardware and software. While the FreeRunner’s software platform is still incomplete, the device has attracted attention from mobile software developers and Linux enthusiasts. In fact, it was launched  last Friday but the 900MHz version has sold out and the demand is still high.

wattOS is a lightweight Linux operating system based in Ubuntu and powered by the Openbox window manager - a fast lightweight and extensible window manager.

wattOS aims to reduce the power consumption of your desktop computers. It offers  the powerful and lightweight PCMan file manager to help you navigate through your files and folders. It also includes Gtk+ 2.0 Change Theme utility so you can easily change the look of the windows, and the StartUp-Manager software to customize your boot appearance.

Below are some useful applications you can find in wattOS:

•  Audacious - Audio player
• Brasero - CD/DVD burning tool
• Totem - Movie player
• The GIMP - Advanced image editor
• Mozilla Firefox - Web browser
• Mozilla Thunderbird - e-mail client
• Pidgin - Multi-protocol instant messenger
• Vinagre - Remote desktop viewer (VNC client)
• Transmission - BitTorrent client
• AbiWord - Word processor
• Gnumeric - Spreadsheet software
• PCMan File Manager

I was pretty impressed when I read from a news that a linux-powered clarinet playing robot won first place in a major international technology competition for developing a robotically operated, computer-driven clarinet that runs on Linux.

The robot, according to the news was developed over the last eight months and it was able to beat a Dutch developed guitar playing robot to the top gong in the Artemis Orchesta competition.

Read the news here